Archive for January, 2005

Additionally, I’m thinking I’m going to close the blog down for a while. Maybe permanently, I don’t know yet. I have my reasons, but mostly it stems from a lack of readership/response type stuff, time, energy, and overall interest.

I figured this was important and as such, should be posted. By now, I’d imagine everyone’s heard of the tsunami and all the damage it’s caused. To help out, Apple has a website with a list of places you can donate, as well as a way to donate straight through the iTunes music store. Go here to find a place to donate. It’s a good cause people!

For those who aren’t aware of it, I’m a computer nut. I started out as a windows freak, heavily into Windows 3.11, then 95, 98, and most especially windows NT 4.0. I use Windows XP today, as well as Windows 2003 Server, 2000 Advanced Server, and other windows server systems at work. However, in the last 10 years, I’d slowly switched to other systems as my knowledge of computers grew.

About the time I got to my senior year of college, I’d switched from using Windows 98 to Linux for my home system. As a budding computer programmer, it was a MUCH better system to learn computers on. The power and flexibility allowed a level of learning I’d never imagined. To this day, I learn more about computers when I use linux than perhaps any other operating system I’ve used. After switching to Linux for my home system, I experimented with it in other places. Here at work, about 4 years ago (I’ve been here over 5.5 years now) I introduced Linux as a development environment. Specifically, we’d started looking at Oracle development around then, and it was at that point I realized how limited windows was. The first time I tried to install Oracle on NT 4.0 server, and then uninstall it, I realized how annoying things like the “Windows Registry” can be. More and more since then, I’ve come to love Linux as a server system for it’s simplicity and functionality. I can get windows to work, but not near as easily as I can a linux system. Now, don’t get me wrong – windows works great as a file system, and for desktops. BUT, as a pure server environment, Linux is unbeatable. For Oracle and Web Development, I wouldn’t choose any other platform.

Interestingly enough though, I’ve migrated to a totally new platform the last 3 or 4 years. I guess it was 4 years ago that Apple released a public beta of “OS X”. OS X (that’s ten as in the roman numeral for 10, not X) was a unix based operating system. Linux is very very similar to Unix, at least at a core level. OS X was actually BSD based, and had the advantage of very similar syntax, command line interface, scripting support, etc. Further, they had a beautiful laptop out that had as much as any other laptop around at the time, for a better price. I decided to give it a try. It helped the switch that a friend, Christian Cosas was a Mac nut and was more than a little encouraging on the attempt. Thus began my foray into a whole new world – the world of the “Mac Cult” as I tend to think of it. Course, I’m a “member” of this cult, and as such, equally available for targetting of jokes and commentary. I’m still in the “Linux Cult” as well, but as a general rule of thumb, I’ve switched to Mac for almost all my work. That includes email, instant messaging, development, programming, oracle database work (yes, there’s a version of Oracle for OS X), and anything else I do with a computer. I still keep a windows machine around (I’m sorry, for games, windows still rules the market), but I touch windows but rarely except when I’m at work. I now have a 17″ PowerBook G4 1ghz that works wonders, and goes with me everyplace. SO, in the last 10 years, I’ve gone from the windows newbie without a clue, to the computer nerd who loves linux, to the more experienced developer who does linux for server work and uses OS X for most everything else. I think that in each case, I’ve stepped up. Or, in the case of linux and OS X, perhaps more took the best of what I’d tried and used them in the appropriate place.

So, what does all of this mean? I guess I’m saying use windows for games, Linux for servers, OS X for everything else. This all stems from the rumors currently flying with regards to the upcoming Macworld Expo. Each year, the faithful of the Mac community cluster around their browsers to hear the details of the president of macdom, Steve Jobs, discuss new Apple technologies. And, this wonderful day is coming up soon. My coworker, Cayle Graumann gives me grief, in that it’s a time where I get lost to the world in a trance of geekdom (or perhaps, just nauseating adoration) of the wonders that Apple produces.

Soon, very soon, on January 11th at 11am, I’ll behold the wonders Steve Jobs has planned for the world. I guess I have become a Macophile lately, but I can’t help it. Who else has created a wonderful gadget such as the iPod, or put both a gorgeous interface on a Unix shell, yet kept the power of the unix system inside? *sigh* A week to go, to join others of the faithful in mass exultation. Mark your calendars friends, and don’t expect to hear from me for two hours while Steve gives his keynote, but expect much rejoicing afterwards….

I have to say – I’m no longer able to look at a minicooper, Jeep, or several other varieties of car without thinking of Jess. She introduced this game, where on trips, you call out when you see one of several vehicles. I believe it’s called the “Jeep” game, as it’s mostly those softback jeeps designed for offroading. Anyways, the way it’s played is you call out when you see one, and get points based upon the vehicle. Hummers are 10 points or so, Jeeps 2, sports cars such as the Viper, Ferrari, or other exotics are I think 5, and odd or cool cars such as bugs are I think 3 points. By the end of the trip, whoever has the most points wins.

As a result, now every time I see one of those cars, I can’t help but think of her….